Judge bans indoor services at defiant Newbury Park church

VENTURA (AP) — A California church that for weeks has held indoor worship in defiance of anti-Coronavirus health orders must close its doors, a judge ruled Friday.

A temporary restraining order was issued that bars Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Newbury Park from indoor worship services anywhere in the county.

“The court finds that there is an immediate threat to public health and safety due to the 2019 novel Coronavirus,” Ventura County Superior Court Judge Matthew Guasco wrote.

The order will be in place until another hearing is held on Aug. 21.

The county north of Los Angeles and its health officer sued the church after Pastor Rob McCoy repeatedly defied health orders designed to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Services for as many as 200 worshipers offered “singing, hugging, no masks,” in McCoy’s words.

The suit was filed last week, a day after the county Board of Supervisors authorized court actions to enforce the health orders.

The suit said permitting the church to keep holding indoor services could harm the public, “including hospitalizations and deaths.”

“On a scale of one to 10 of the most immediate irreparable harm possible, this is a 10,” Guasco said at the hearing. “It doesn’t get much more immediate or irreparable than the threat that a lot of people are going to spread a contagious and deadly disease.”

A message left at the church seeking comment from McCoy wasn’t immediately returned.

But McCoy has argued that the risk of spreading COVID-19 from its services is small and there hasn’t been a confirmed case among parishioners.

Lawyers for the church also have argued that the health orders are overreach that are trumped by the Constitutional right to freedom of expression and worship.

A law firm representing the church argued that the risk of death from COVID-19 in the county is minimal.

“We believe that COVID-19 can be fought with far less restrictive measures than banning all healthy persons from church and our expert witnesses will prove that,” said a statement Friday from Tyler & Bursch, which is defending the church through a non-profit organization, Advocates for Faith & Freedom.

Godspeak Calvary Chapel is one of a handful of churches in the state that have wound up in court over state or local health orders restricting services. Judges have consistently ruled against the churches on grounds of public safety.